


Compass, Fortis, Mendelin

by aurorakitty5



Series: Cycling on the Path of Life [10]
Category: Katekyou Hitman Reborn!, The Shadowhunter Chronicles - All Media Types
Genre: Gen, Good Jonathan Christopher Morgenstern | Sebastian Verlac (I guess??), I don't actually know, Jonathan isn't insane anymore!, RIP fon you idiot, Rebirth (technically?), References to Abuse, Running Away, Valentine Morgenstern SUCKED, he is Running Away to New York, he's just kinda Bitter and Sarcastic, new york institute watch out!, to cope with his first life trauma AND his second life trauma
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-11
Updated: 2020-12-11
Packaged: 2021-03-10 18:40:09
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,612
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28001778
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/aurorakitty5/pseuds/aurorakitty5
Summary: Perhaps he should have made more contingency plans for possibly being revived aside from running away but in his defense, it wasn't as if that was a constant thought he had.
Relationships: None
Series: Cycling on the Path of Life [10]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1443277
Kudos: 75
Collections: Identity Crisis





	Compass, Fortis, Mendelin

* * *

_Mundies_ was the first thought Skull had when he awoke, blinking rapidly at the glaring sunlight streaming in his window.

“What?” He spoke aloud, face scrunching up in confusion.

_Mundanes_ his mind whispered again, _You are surrounded by them_.

“Thanks mind, way to clear things up for me.” Skull grumbled, heaving himself out of his bed. Clambering over to his mirror, Skull let out an eep of surprise. Darting his eyes around his room as if to see anyone in it, he let out a breath of air and pulled down his collar.

There, stark black against his skin, sat an odd design that when Skull touched it, sent a shiver down his spine. Flinching, Skull quickly pulled up his collar. Grabbing his makeup bag, he quickly applied his makeup and bounded down the stairs into the communal living room. Breezing past Viper, he quickly grabbed an apple from the fruit bowl and jogged outside.

Reaching the tree by the lake he sat down, legs crossed and eyes closed. He was still dressed in what he slept in, the feeling of nature being so close to him and his lack of regular attire helped him concentrate. Humming lightly, he laid down and rested his hands against his chest, slowing his breathing down.

It was his daily flame exercise, designed by himself to get a clearer grasp on his flame control, enough so that he could at least _try_ to keep up with the other Arcobaleno. Well, up to their standards of him at the very least. Furrowing his eyebrows, he searched for the bright purple flame that would usually appear in his mind once he properly settled down.

However, he couldn't find it.

Frowning, he sat up and looked closer. After looking for a while, the only thing he could find was an odd grey light. After debating whether he should mess with it for a few seconds, Skull reached out for the weird energy.

Right after he touched it, he felt a strong rush of power go through him, seemingly integrating with him. Jerking back slightly, he opened his eyes in surprise. Feeling a tingle in the spot with the odd design, he pulled down his collar again and saw the design light up a bright, harsh red.

“Ookay,” he whispered, looking and feeling freaked out, “Alright, funny tattoo lights up red after I can’t find my flames, and I feel a lot more awake than I was three minutes ago.” He sighed, slumping down onto the grass and letting out a breath.

_Runes_ the voice whispered, seemingly excited. Which was something Skull certainly didn’t need to know could happen. However, the comment was just a bit more helpful than the previous ones.

“Alright,” he said, briefly casting his eyes upwards, “you gonna add anything to that, or am I just gonna go on with my life and forget all about this experience.”

_Runes, stele. Trace._ The voice sounded a bit insistent, and Skull would feel the urge to do something, however, he still had no idea what the voice was trying to say.

“Ok, is this some sort of secret magical power? Like, Harry Potter or something? Because if it is I’d totally be willing to figure it out. Especially since I can’t find my flames.” He mumbled the last part, afraid that if he said it out loud, one of the Arcobaleno would come running out and beat him up or something.

Certainly wouldn’t be the first time.

_Stele. Room, bottom drawer. Trace_. Skull blinked in surprise. He really wasn’t expecting his plea to work but hey, don’t look a gift horse in the mouth. After spending a few more moments in the grass working through some sort of crisis, he got up and went to the house again. Fortunately, no one seemed to be awake, or in the house for that matter the second time he walked through the front door, which was a blessing. Trudging up the stairs, he could feel foreign anticipation fill him. Brushing it off, he entered his room and went to the only dresser he had. Bending down to open the bottom drawer, positive there was nothing inside, he was proven wrong.

There in the small drawer was a small, silver, intricately designed box. Stupefied for a couple of seconds, Skull gave into his extreme curiosity and the background anticipation and picked the box up. Fairly light, he placed it on top of the dresser and looked for a latch to open the box, but there was nothing he could see.

“Uh,” he began, feeling awkward speaking to himself, “how exactly do I open this?”

_Energy_ the voice whispered, faint traces of annoyance in the voice.

“Alright,” Skull put his hands up briefly before trying to pull out the energy he felt minutes earlier, “you don’t have to be so prissy.” After concentrating for a bit he managed to find it, the grey light giving off a fuzzy feeling. Closing his eyes and breathing out, he lightly grasped the energy and moved it down his arm into his hand. When he opened his eyes, he noticed a faint glow coming from the tips of his fingers. Slightly freaking out, he placed his fingers on the middle of the front of the box, hoping that he was doing it right. He heard a faint mechanical click, and then the box opened by itself. Peering inside, he was surprised and a bit confused at the single pillow with what he assumed was the stele placed in the middle and a ring nestled to the side.

He ignored the ring temporarily and grabbed the object and examined it, the metal of the body faintly glowing. Skull felt odd while he was holding it, like something that he never knew was missing found its way back to him. Slightly put off by the feeling but ultimately wanting to see where this experiment would take him, he took off his shirt and placed it next to the ornate box. Taking a deep breath, he lifted the stele and held it against the black rune by his collar. Seeing the tip of the stele light up as soon as he placed it against the rune, he yelped at the small stinging pain. Yanking the stele away from his collar, he stared wide-eyed at it before ultimately deciding the pain would probably be worth it.

Slowly, ignoring the pain, he traced the rune, careful to not forget the small dots and thin lines. There were a few, brief seconds of all-consuming pain, and then Jonathan stood stock-still in front of the mirror, newly green eyes blank until he blinked a few times.

“Well,” he quietly mused, peering into the mirror and taking in his appearance, “I could certainly look a lot worse.” Looking into the box he picked up the ring, tossing it up and down a few times in thought. Shrugging, he slid it onto the middle finger of his right hand and picked up the cushion.

“Ah, a shame Clary didn’t put in the bracelet. Would certainly be nice to have it, instead of this cursed thing.” He waved his hand a little, the Morgenstern ring glinting sinisterly in the daylight. 

“Tch,” he tsk-ed, taking the stele and drawing some familiar runes back onto his skin, aside from the agony rune that used to be on his left arm. 

That he could do without.

Mnemosyne, voyance, and clarity runes added, along with the typical endurance, power, iratze, and throwing in the equilibrium, fortitude, and a mourning rune just for fun, Jonathan felt more like himself. Well, the one that wasn’t tainted by demon blood and only existed for a bit before he died, but that was schematics.

Staring back into the mirror, he scrunched his nose in irritation, only briefly hoping he could change his hair color to something more acceptable, before remembering it was part of the game. Aside from disastrous hair color and clothing choices aside, he felt clarity he hadn’t had for as long as he could remember, not taking into account his last few moments.

Softly humming he tucked the stele into the pockets of his sweatpants and closed the box and put it back into the bottom drawer. Moving over to the closet, he heard a knock on his door and blinked before pasting a bright grin on his face and going to open it. Fon looked back at him, and the two stared for a few moments before Jonathan remembered he was supposed to say something. Probably.

“Ah! Hello Fon!” He said cheerily, feeling his right shoulder twitch. “Do you need anything?”

Fon stood there silently before shaking his head, Jonathan noticing his eyes narrowing minutely in confusion. “Ok then!” He chirped, before closing the door and quickly walking over to the closet and pulling clothing that he knew he had never worn as ‘Skull’, from the faint memories beginning to make their way back into his brain. Spotting a black bag stuffed in the back, he smirked and began to put the clothes into the bag. Once finished, he went back over to the dresser and shoved the box into the bag as well. Taking a quick look around, he briefly wondered if the octopus would be able to find him before shrugging and opening the window.

Tracing agility, soundless, and stealth, he jumped from the window sill and rolled onto the ground, immediately getting back onto his feet and running off. He laughed as he got farther away, the freedom he felt causing a genuine grin to reach his face.

“It’s been so long! New York Institute, here I come!”

* * *

**Author's Note:**

> Very cool very epic. I wanted to finish this one up from Long Ago, but I didn't have the motivation until recently. So here you go. If there is a writing difference at some point, no there isn't <3.


End file.
